Connecting the Dots: Afternoon edition for Thursday, April 12, 2012

Civil Rights attorney Molly Munger has invested an additional $2.15 million in her initiative to raise income taxes on most Californians to fund schools. The initiative still needs 504,000 total signatures to qualify for the November ballot. Meanwhile, Governor Jerry Brown has been promoting his own statewide tax increase. Supporters of that measure are worried November voters will be confusing by two competing tax hikes…

Even if they won’t get a tax break, California workers are at least entitled to a lunch break. The California Supreme Court ruled today that employees must receive a break within the first five hours of their shift, but their employers aren’t obligated to make sure they take it…

If a new youth jobs program that Mayor Ed Lee hopes to put in place succeeds, young people will have a better time finding work over their summer break. The San Francisco Summer Jobs+ program aims to create 5,000 jobs for youth 14-24, an age group that is currently experiencing more than 15 percent unemployment…

Mitt Romney, a candidate looking to land a job running the country, received some criticism from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for his comment that the recession put more women than men out of work. The fact-checking group, Politifact, proved the contrary. Hoping Democrats will soon take back the House of Representatives, Pelosi pointed to Romney’s support of the GOP’s plans to cut funding for health programs and contraceptives…

Meanwhile, lawmakers told public health officials in health care districts to do a better job puting the tax funding they receive toward the construction of hospitals instead of the building of fitness centers…

Finally, Arnold Schwarzenegger crowd-sourced some of the work on his upcoming autobiography. He put out a call to his Facebook and Twitter followers asking what they want to read about.